The bill would also make groundbreaking investments in energy efficiency and open the door for new renewables.

But it still is far from perfect: it offers a one-time refund of $200 million but does not give the State Corporation Commission (SCC) the authority to do a full audit of over-earnings from 2015 through 2017 and require Dominion to issue a complete refund. The bill also gives utilities a blank check for powerline undergrounding that will be paid for by ratepayers with no SCC oversight.

In response, Mike Tidwell, Director of the CCAN Action Fund, released the following statement:

“However, the bill still allows Dominion to take advantage of Virginia ratepayers and fails to require the company to fully refund the hundreds of millions of dollars it has overcharged Virginians over the past couple years.

“Delegate Rasoul’s proposed amendment to reign in language that gives Dominion a blank check to spend billions in ratepayer money on powerline undergrounding failed. This bill also cuts a refund check for Virginia’s ratepayers that is just pennies on the dollar in comparison to what the utility has overcharged as estimated by the State Corporation Commission (SCC). The bill’s current language also caps rate reductions in the first rate review at $50 million, and blocks the SCC from carrying out a full audit of Dominion’s overcharges. The people of the Commonwealth deserve a full audit done through a rate case.

“Today’s action by the House of Delegates was an improvement over the bill that passed the Senate last week. However, more work needs to be done to prevent Dominion Energy from taking advantage of the ratepayers of Virginia.”

From a Tom Perriello email: “We may have lost the battle over this deal, but we proved that the political tide has turned towards a Clean Virginia. Thirty-five Delegates stood with the people today — a massive increase over past years. And nothing more clearly captures that we are winning the future than seeing all 15 freshman delegates who flipped seats last year on a reform platform hold strong. Every single one, even under enormous pressure from corporate lobbyists, joined with Leader Toscano and long time champions like Delegates Rasoul and Keam to send a clear message that the era of real reform is on the horizon.”

linda1pebv

Please make sure you add Cia Price to the list of NAYS in your article. Delegate Price is emerging as a leader and coalition builder every day. HUGE props on this to our new Clean 16 who articulated their opposition professionally and passionately. Here come the Freshmen!

“Former state attorney general Ken Cuccinelli (R) wrote to members of the General Assembly on Tuesday urging them to oppose the legislation, saying they were being played by Dominion.

“He cited a recent analyst letter from UBS investment bank that was upbeat on Dominion stock because of the expected action from the Virginia legislature. The UBS note praised Dominion as being “adept at navigating VA politics” and added 5 percent to the expected value of its business in expectation of the General Assembly’s passing a favorable regulatory overhaul.

“What Wall Street is saying, Cuccinelli told the lawmakers, is that Virginia is easy. “To use a dating analogy,” Cuccinelli wrote, “if Virginia were dating utilities, her name and phone number would be on the boardroom wall of every utility in the Commonwealth under phrases like ‘For a good time, call …’ ”””

RobertColgan

My rep, Dickie Bell(R, Dist 20) sent me an eMail thanking me for my request that he vote “Nay” on HB1558….and said that as a result of his receiving hundreds of mails and phone calls from constituents he voted against the Party line and against the bill.
I thank him as much as I thank ALL of the citizens who contacted reps re this legislation….even though we know not too many of the R’s have the same sense of accountability to constituents as DBell displayed here.

Undoubtedly H1558 was already known to be a foregone passage with preponderant R support . . . but still.
Kudos to those reps who did listen to citizen input.
We need MORE citizens stepping up and making their voices heard on important legislation. . . an uninvolved, acquiescent electorate is the very antithesis of “we the people.”